How to Use the Compatibility Administration Tool in Windows XP

  • Article

The Compatibility Administration Tool is a part of the Application Compatibility Toolkit, which provides an interface for working with the compatibility data and features on Windows XP-based computers. This article describes how you can use the Compatibility Administration Tool in Windows XP.

For information about how to obtain and install the Application Compatibility Toolkit, see the section on Application Compatibility at MSDN.

Using The Compatibility Administration Tool

When you use the Compatibility Administration Tool, you can turn on and off any of the internal system fixes, browse for fixed programs on system drives, and create multiple fix packages that can be propagated and installed on other computers to resolve compatibility issues.

Creating a New Application Fix Database

To create a new Application Fix database

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Application Compatibility Toolkit.

  2. Click Compatibility Administration Tool, and then click New from the File menu as shown in Figure 1 below.

    Using the Compatibility Administration Tool

    Figure 1. Using the Compatibility Administration Tool

  3. Name your custom database, and then click OK as shown in Figure 2 below. The new database is saved in %SystemRoot%\Windows\AppPatch.

    Naming your custom database

    Figure 2. Naming your custom database

Creating a New Application Fix—Apply Compatibility Mode

To create a new application fix using Apply Compatibility Mode

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Application Compatibility Toolkit.

  2. Click Compatibility Administration Tool, and then click Database as shown in Figure 1 above.

  3. Click Create Application Fix, and then click Apply Compatibility Mode.

  4. Click Next, enter the name of the program to create a compatibility layer, and then click Next.

  5. Click Browse, locate the .exe file of the program that you want to fix.

  6. Click Open, click Compatibility Mode to apply and choose from the settings shown in Figure 3 below, then click Next.

    Creating an application fix

    Figure 3. Creating an application fix

  7. Click Add File, as shown in Figure 4 below, to add any files that you know are related to the program, and then click Next.

    Adding a file

    Figure 4. Adding a file

  8. Click AutoGenerate to get a listing of any files that are used when the program is run, and then click Next.

  9. Click Test Run, as shown in Figure 5 below, and then click Go.

    Testing the application fix

    Figure 5. Testing the application fix

  10. If you do not experience any issues, click Finish.

Creating a New Application Fix—Apply Specific Compatibility Fix

To create a new application fix using Apply Specific Compatibility Fix

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Application Compatibility Toolkit.

  2. Click Compatibility Administration Tool, and then click Database as shown in Figure 1 above.

  3. Click Create Application Fix, and then click Apply Specific Compatibility Fix 

  4. Click Next, enter the name of the program to create a compatibility layer, and then click Next.

  5. Click Browse, locate the .exe file of the program that you want to fix.

  6. Click Open, and then click Next to select the fixes that you want to apply, as shown in Figure 6 below. Then click Next again.

    Selecting the fixes to apply to the application

    Figure 6. Selecting the fixes to apply to the application

  7. Click Add File to add any files that you know are related to the program, then click Next.

  8. Click AutoGenerate to get a listing of any files that are used when the program is run. Click Next.

  9. Click Test Run, and then click Go.

  10. If you do not experience any issues, click Finish.

Disabling an Application Fix

To disable an application fix

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Application Compatibility Toolkit.

  2. Click Compatibility Administration Tool, and then under Microsoft Application Database, click the program that you want to disable the application fixes for.

  3. In the right pane, right-click the .exe file for the program, and then click Disable Entry as shown in Figure 7 below.

    Disabling application fixes

    Figure 7. Disabling application fixes

Disabling an Application Fix for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000

To disable an application fix for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Application Compatibility Toolkit.

  2. Click Compatibility Administration Tool, and then under Microsoft Application Database, click Flight Simulator 2000.

  3. In the right pane, right-click Fs2000.exe, and then click Disable Entry.

For More Information

For more information on the Compatibility Administration Tool, review the document CompatAdmin User's Guide.doc. This file is available in the Application Compatibility Toolkit.

For information about how to obtain and install the Application Compatibility Toolkit, see Application Compatibility on MSDN.